Sea Winds and Rogue Waves
by Anon A. Mauze
Summary: Before, her life had been hemmed in by rules and restrictions. All that changes with one decision, when she ran for the freedom of the seas. Now there will be no rules save the ones she makes for herself. Life's grandest adventure awaits.
1. Chapter 1

Sea Winds and Rogue Waves

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda not me.

Chapter One: In Which There is a Muchness of Rum and Sneaking

Barykos Isle resounded with noise from an epic party being held on the golden sands of the beach. Laughter rang out from clusters of men splashing in the ocean's water like children on a sugar-high. Crackling sparks erupted every now and then from bonfires big enough to roast Sea King steaks on. The sun was setting, glinting redly off the waters of the bay. Even the inhabitants of the island were involved, some passing out various forms of liquor or swatting at hungry hands reaching for food that wasn't done cooking. Others danced to a cacophony of music from a dozen different instruments. Under an enormous red-and-white umbrella stuck in the sand a handful of pirates lounged, tankards in hand, as they joked and laughed, their hangovers from the night before no where to be seen.

From the docks, a shadowed form watched the festivities with a wistful gaze. Joining in on the fun would be wonderful, but at that moment she had more concern for the Marine warship lurking just beyond the harbor. If they discovered her, they would cart her back to her father and that was something she would much rather avoid. This island was a large one, possessing a large and deep harbor that was protected from the ravages of the ocean by the curving arms of the rim of an extinct volcano's caldera. It was also the largest producer of the finest cocoa beans in the world, giving it a luxury export to provide to the rest of the world. All of this meant that it was frequented by pirates and Marines alike, and for similar reasons. So here she was, making use of the distraction of the party to slip onto one of the many ships on the public side of the harbor. Most of them were small ships meant for short-distance transport, owned by their captains or merchant-conglomerates, with a few larger Merchantman-cargo ships scattered among them. Her main interest was in the four pirate ships gracing the harbor. Two were unwieldy-looking galleons, which eliminated them from her list. Galleons were, by-and-large, slower and lacked maneuverability, and so usually unable to escape Marine pursuit. There was fluyt that was a possibility, given fluyt were built with exactly those things in mind, but it was smaller than the other three and would be much harder to hide on.

Which left the hybrid ship. While it was the largest of the four ships it was built more along the lines of the fluyt with a narrow front keel and a shallow draft. Truthfully, it looked like an oversized carrack with an extra mast and more sails. Curiously, there were palm trees waving in the sea breeze on the rear deck. And unlike the other three, the ship appeared to be deserted apart from a pair of watchmen in the crows nest. Those two were laughing at each other and slurping something out of enormous tankards and generally not seeming to pay much attention to their surroundings.

Slipping silently up to the dragon-headed prow, she made a quick leap for the anchor chain and froze as it gave a small, but noisy rattle. After a few minutes passed with no one coming to investigate the noise, she cautiously began climbing the heavy links, scrambling awkwardly over the decorative curve of wood just above the anchor hole. From there she slid along the narrow lip of wood until a cannon port lay just above her head. Reaching up to wrap her hands around the mouth of the cannon, she started swinging her body until she could catch her heels on the porthole and wiggle herself through it along the side of the cannon.

Dropping down, she found herself in what was obviously the powder storage area, judging by the securely tied down casks labeled with a skull, crossbones and explosion cloud. She had to stifle a giggle when she noticed more than a few of those skulls had been altered - some had tongues obviously blowing raspberries at people, a few had devil horns sticking out of the top, one or two even had the creepy crying eyes going on. It seemed like someone had a sense of humor on this crew. She carefully made her way over to the door and popped it open just an inch to look out onto the deck beyond. Save for a few piles of net covered crates it was clear so she would be a very visible target if she tried to cross it to the main doors to the spaces below deck. Closing it softly, she leaned against it and considered the options.

True, the crew of this vessel were mostly all down on the beach partying. The two in the crows nest were halfway to totally sloshed. The ship was more or less deserted. It may be risky to cross the deck but unlikely that anyone would notice her. On the other hand, there was still sun light streaking the sky in colors of red, orange, and violet and the moon would be nearly full tonight. One of this ship's neighbors had a full skeleton crew aboard for watch so it was possible that someone from that ship would see her.

Crawling on her belly along the gunwale might hide her from other ships, but she'd stand out badly to the crowsnest, and that won't get her across the deck. Maybe it would be best to act like a drunken reveler and try crossing the deck after full dark had come. Except that even in the dark she looked nothing like a pirate.

Blowing out a sigh, she cracked the door open again to look across the deck. Overhead, the watchmen were steadily slurring more and more of their words as they swapped stories in the deepening twilight. Decided, she slipped out the door and quickly dashed to the main mast, careful to put it between herself and the manned ship in the berth next to this one. Another rush had her pressed up against the door she had been aiming for and she twisted the knob while praying it had been oiled recently.

Thankfully it opened as silently as she could have hoped for and she slithered into the darkness beyond with none the wiser for her presence.


	2. Chapter 2

Sea Winds and Rogue Waves

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda not me.

Chapter Two: Finding A Hidden Place

Hanging next to the door was a small oil filled lamp, which she was quick to snatch up and haul along with her. If her initial estimate of the ship's crew was accurate, they wouldn't miss a few appropriated items so long as nothing she took for herself was either personally valuable or too unique to be missed. A simple missing lamp would be of minimal concern. The oil for it would be another matter. Most ships, even pirate ships, kept a close watch on their oil supplies. Although more and more ships were incorporating electricity, many pirates opted for older ships that hadn't been updated since they didnt want to lose storage space to an engine or generator that could have been used for treasure or supplies instead. This one appeared to have a few small updates - She saw a small conduit running along the corner of the ceiling that had to contain electrical wire and as she traveled along the hallways, there were small covered light bulbs providing some illumination in the otherwise pitch-dark passageways.

Taking the first set of stairs she found going down, she noted that this level appeared to be crew quarters. Unlike smaller ships, this one possessed several rooms, each with its own door. Here, again, the unnamed prankster had delighted in decorating the doors of each compartment in images. She snorted at the one that was carved and then painted to look like an explosion. If the other doors were anything to go by each compartment was likely decorated to match those who inhabited them, as one had an actual gun glued to it while another had a knife hilt for a doorknob.

Going down more stairs, she found a room full of folded sails and coils of heavy rope. The further down she went the less electric light there was and she was forced to light her lamp to continue on.

The hold she eventually found her way to was dark as a pit. In the light of her lamp it proved to be divided into small compartments - this ship seemed to have been a produce transport at some point in its life and the old built-in bins for separating the various fruits and vegetables that would be hauled to the next port were still there. Finding a small one that had a thick layer of dust in it near the stern, she moved a stack of crates to hide the opening and set down the small bag of personal belongings that had survived her flight from her father's grasp.

Now all she needed was a bit of bedding and some food and she would be set for a few days. Scooting out of her hidey hole, she wound her way back up to where she'd found the crew's living quarters. Opening a few cupboards rewarded her with a couple bits of obviously much reused sailcloth and several old blankets. She eyed the pillows scattered about and snatched one up that had been stuffed into a corner. Thankfully it smelled rather clean despite the many stains. Hauling all this back to the hold took only a few minutes and then she was racing back up, this time to hunt down the kitchen.

The quiet of the ship as she wandered around was eerie. She could still hear the echoes of the party but the slap of water against the hull was louder. But it was the quiet hum of electrical appliances that finally led her to the kitchen. The minute she stepped into the area it was plain that this room was where the most modern updates had been incorporated. The gleaming, industrial sized kitchen had four separate stoves and four more standard wall ovens, an enormous griddle, and one oven that took up an entire wall, complete with a rotisserie spit big enough to roast entire pigs. Everything was obviously just so, each with its own place in a drawer or on the magnetic strips on the wall. She smiled. One could always tell when a chef enjoyed his work.

The three refrigerators on the far wall were almost empty, aside from some fruit on the bottom shelf and a few strange items she didn't want to attempt to identify. The fruit she took, using a discarded flour sack to carry her finds. The door to the left of the refrigerators led to a pantry and this was stuffed to the gills with all kinds of food that had her drooling from the aroma they released into the small space. Mentally slapping herself for a moment of greed, she hastily grabbed a couple sticks of dry cured sausage, a large box of crackers, a loaf of bread, a small round of smoked cheese, and after a bit hesitation, a jar of jam. There was a small barrel full of hazelnuts she would have liked some of but she had no way of cracking the shells. Shoving all this into her makeshift sack the started to leave the kitchen only to hear voices just outside the kitchen doors.

"... 'ashira wants ... 'oney."

A laugh. "Good luck. They took the last of it two hours ago."

"Damn. I'll have to look in town then."

They moved away then, but she had to wait a moment for her heart rate to steady. Damn and double damn. That had been way too close. It was more than time to get back to her hole and pull it in after her.


End file.
